Hacking Acekard 2i or R4i Gold for 3DS.

[Tsukurimashou]

Hi, I will get a 3DS soon and I wonder what flashcard should I buy.
I came to the conclusion that the two best options for me are the R4i gold and the Acekard 2i.
I just want some info about those cards, what are the pros and the cons, and do the roms need to be patched to works, which one have the best compatibility list ect...
Another question is why on the acekard website it says "support DSi DSL IDSL DS and IDS" if it supports the 3DS too.
On other websites like dwtechz.com it says the same thing.

I just want a good card for a cheap price with a good compatibility list and easy to use. I just want to play NDS games on it, and maybe put some emulator (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, Megadrive) on it.
Thanks in advance.

 

[phamous_t]

Well nothing supports 3DS roms yet if you're talking about if it can be played in the 3ds then both can play. Although only R4i 3DS supports 2.2.0-4. I have the R4i 3DS myself and I love it. Don't know to much about Acekard 2i sorry.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

I know there is no flashcard supporting 3DS games atm, I just want to play NDS games on my 3DS

 

[phamous_t]

So then either card should work fine. Word of caution though, if your 3DS is already upgraded to 2.2.0-4 then only the R4i 3DS will work. As they are one of the only ones out that has their card updated. Acekard is working on it right now so you should still be ok. I updated my 3DS to the latest firmware by clicking on update under settings and it only updated me to 2.1.0-4U as long as your 3DS says that or lower either card will work fine.

 

[mrtofu]

deleted

 

[jimmyemunoz]

Hey Tsukurimashou
I tell you that both of the flash cards that you're entertaining are good. R4i Gold 3DS (www.r4ids.cn) is a fantastic card that has Moonshell built into the User Interface. When you select movies from the main menu it will list all available movies on your card. The R4i Gold 3DS's main menu looks exactly like the DSi main menu, which I like. It's a snappy card, great speed. The acekard 2i has the same exact speed, so it's a tie. The Acekard 2i and the R4i Gold 3DS are very similar, as the R4i gold 3ds runs Wood firmware which is based off of AKRPG firmware and AKRPG firmware led to AKAIO. I really think the only main difference is cost, and the fact that Yellow Wood Goblin has got to decrypt the games before they can ever play, and the Acekard 2i does not. The Acekard 2i has a launch routine coded, if you use AKAIO firmware, that can pass security checks for piracy most of the time. If you want a great card that is cheap you should search for the RetroGameFan thread on these forums, his firmware/kernel is fantastic, and is upgraded just as fast and sometimes faster than Wood Firmware/AKAIO firmware. He has a list of flash cards that his firmware/kernel works on. Some cards that work run his firmware directly and other cards keep their firmware and just use his kernel. It doesn't really matter, but I like when I could use a card with dual firmware. I'd suggest picking a flash card that is on the bottom part of his long list (cards that keep their original firmware is the topic header). I honestly don't care any more if I hear people throw around the words "clone" and "fake". I honestly think any card on his "working cards" list are top notch, bundled with his firmware/kernel. You might want to think about that before you commit to an Acekard 2i or R4i Gold 3DS (www.r4ids.cn). I have both of the cards (Acekard 2i and R4i Gold 3DS) and I also have a card that costs much less than both. My other flash card that runs RetroGameFan's kernel has a much better build quality than the Acekard 2i, but just as good as the R4i gold 3ds. The R4i Gold 3DS is built well. The Acekard 2is are built like crap IMO. They're not horrible but they leave much to be desired. If you can find an original older Acekard 2i they're built much better than the current batches. I hope this helped you more than it confused you.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

Yeah thanks for your help. For the R4i Gold must you patch games to get them work or you just have to copy the .nds on the micro SD and you can play them directly?

 

[Hoperize]

with the lastest wood fw. there no need to patch rom at all.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

And what is wood? An OS for R4i gold or something like that?

 

[s4mid4re]

And what is wood? An OS for R4i gold or something like that?

Yep, wood is the firmware for r4 original, r4i gold, acekard r.p.g. and some other r4s. The GUI is the same as akaio (you can even use the same skin) on wood because both were created using the same source. There's no AP-bypass on wood, but both wood r4 and akaio keeps up to date to provide high compatibility to recent games.

Hardware-wise, the ak2i isn't recommended. They've recently released a batch of ak2is that are spring loaded, which (apparently) isn't that great. Also, contact issues are worse and more wide-spread among ak2i's. I luckily have one without any issues, though, and I can guarantee you that it's great.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

Ok thanks, is it a problem there's no AP-bypass? What is the difference with a card that have AP-bypass?

 

[s4mid4re]

Ok thanks, is it a problem there's no AP-bypass? What is the difference with a card that have AP-bypass?

Carts having AP-bypass are supposed to patch games automatically (hence you need clean/unpatched roms for it to work), making recent games run without problems, although, to be honest, I never felt I've had much benefit from it. Both carts update once or twice a month, so you shouldn't have problems in playing newer games to begin with (as long as you have some patience). So nope, no problem. Newer games run fine on wood r4.

 

[Janthran]

Acekard works. I just think it's funny that you're expecting a GC emulator for the DS.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

Thanks for your replies
And oops that was a misstyping, not GC but GB :q I know it is not possible even with 3DS hardware :q
Anyway thanks again for your replies, I think I'll go with a R4i Gold. dwtechz.com is a recommended website on R4 website, it sells it for 17$ (from US) with free shipping.

EDIT: One last thing, I was looking to buy a R4i gold but there is some with different prices from websites on r4ids.cn
Like:
http://www.gamekool.com/r4i-gold-for-ndsndslndsi-p-266.html at 7.50$
http://www.gamekool.com/first-v14-card-r4i-gold-r4i-dsi-support-dsi-v14-p-263.html at 12.50 $
and there is a third at 17$ called R4i Gold 3DS.
What are the differences between those 3 cards? Are the 2 first fake and the third legit or something like that?

 

[FireGrey]

Acekard 2i are a bit slow with updates for new firmwares and get bricked easier than other cards.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

No one can tell me what is the difference?

 

[tranfeer]

Both are good. R4i Gold 3DS(r4ids.cn) is updated more frequently with wood and it's also unbricked faster when coming to DS and 3DS's system updating.

 

[Tsukurimashou]

No I want to play NDS games on my 3DS and some emulator, on my old DS lite I had a supercard DSone with NES GB GBC and megadrive emulators on it, so I think I can do the same thing with the R4i gold.
And if SNES and GBA emulator are not possible atm, I'll just wait for a real 3DS flashcard.
I think supercard dstwo is not a really good choice because it's expensive, there is a lot of feature that I dont care, like real time menu, real time cheat, slow motion ect... the only features that are interesting are GBA and SNES emulator but I read that they dont work very well, you need to frame skip to have decent FPS and they are still in beta so, some games are bugged. Since there will be VC for GBA and SNES on 3DS, when a flashcard will be released playing GBA and SNES games on 3DS will be possible, even without VC the 3DS will be able to run GBA and SNES emulator, there is no doubt.
So I think I'll just go for a cheap flashcard (R4i Gold) to play NDS games and some emulator and I'll wait a 3DS flashcard for more features and that will use 100% of the 3DS capacity.